The Lightning played five games in a span of three days in Orlando and finished 4-1 on the trip.

"It was invaluable to get out there and get game experience when everyone is inside the gym and outside shoveling," Appleton North coach Mike Mullen said. "But it also is valuable because a lot of the procedures they have at state are kind of the same procedures that we saw at Disney in Orlando. You ride a bus. You need passes to get in. At state, they enforce the one minute between innings. A lot of things that don't happen around here, they happen in Orlando, so it won't seem as abnormal when we're down there."

It's the first state game for the Lightning since a runner-up finish in 2007 to Kimberly in the Division 1 title game. It's North's sixth appearance overall, with a state title in 2005.

North finished second in the Fox Valley Association behind Oshkosh North, which was the top-ranked team in the state for most of the season before being upset by Fond du Lac in regionals.

While the Lightning has the most losses of any D1 team in the field, Mullen figures it's more about the league North plays in than anything else.

"The way we kind of look at it, we don't apologize for playing in the FVA," he said. "I think our conference gets us very prepared. The night-in and night-out battles in the FVA, it might affect your record a little bit, but in the long run it makes you a much better team.

"The competition in the FVA, it bodes very well for us. If you look around the state, the FVA won the state football championship, both the boys and girls state basketball championships, and last spring won both baseball and softball state championships. Just playing in the FVA gets us ready and we don't worry too much about records."

The Cardinals are led in the circle by Maddie Gardner. She's 23-0 on the season with a 0.48 ERA and 239 strikeouts in 130-plus innings pitched. She has an offer to join the University of Wisconsin softball team as a walk-on.

The Lightning has faced big-time pitchers in the FVA, Mullen said. The Lightning faced Oshkosh North and Northwestern recruit Sydney Supple twice and also tangled with former Kaukauna standout and current Wisconsin ace Haley Hestekin in the recent past.

"(Gardner) is a nice player. She's talented," Mullen said. "Once again, the benefit of playing in the FVA is that we've faced a Sydney Supple and we faced Haley Hestekin. We won't be in awe of her because we faced Supple and Hestekin so many times over the years."

North's Marissa Mullen is 13-5 with a 2.04 ERA and she's also North's top hitter (.482, 5 home runs, 29 RBI). Cady Isom (.392, 7 HR, 32 RBI) and Sara Allison (.384, 7 HR, 33 RBI) also bring plenty of power to a North batting order that has hit 22 home runs on the season.

Marissa Mullen said the team is thrilled with the chance to play for a possible state championship.

"I think we're just kind of enjoying every single moment we have together as a team," she said. "I mean, these are girls that I've been playing with since I was eight years old. So just being able to finish my career with them, it's a lot of joy.

"I'm sure there might be some nerves, but hopefully come game time I'll be ready to get down to business and be really excited that I have the opportunity to play on that field with those girls."